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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Smitherman Still a Zealot with No Solutions

Cincinnati City Council Member and Local NAACP President Chris Smitherman is proving yet again that he has no solutions for difficult issues, he just wants to pretend he is doing something to fool people into thinking he is an effective member of council, when in fact he is a detriment to the City and all of its residents. This is more than evident from his email exchange with Council Member Cecil Thomas reported on the Enquirer's Politics Extra Blog. Here's the "shorter" version of the exchange:

Smitherman: Mr. Thomas, I have no plan, but you should hold a meeting so I can grandstand and pretend I am doing something about 'black-on-black' violence.

Thomas: Mr. Smitherman, I believe we have a program in place to help address that issue and I'm trying to get more funding for it. We can discuss this in the committee meeting on May 1st, just a few weeks away.

Smitherman: No, I want my meeting NOW, or I am going to have a hissy-fit! I will hold my breath until you give me my meeting or just force my own meeting. I still don't have a plan, I just need to pretend I am doing something.

Typical Smitherman. He still has no solution to address the violence plaguing the African-American community. He just wants a bigger soapbox to yell from so he can blame someone else for not finding a solution he can't find, himself. There is no easy or simple solution for this problem and there definitively is not a solution that will make anyone happy and win anyone re-election to any office. The best solution would be for Smitherman to quit council or just stop pretending he's actually doing his job as a council member.

2 comments:

While I think I understand the frustration here, the truth is, this city seldom to never discusses crimes against people of color. Do you know while the rest of the country has been talking about Trayvon Martin, we'd be hard-pressed to find the Enquirer providing continuous updated coverage. Until the recent charges against Zimmerman, you'd have to dig deep or find another website.

CIRV may be a plan, but "black on black" crime comes with specific concerns....concerns Cincinnati would rather ignore....or simply continue to marginalize and criminalize Smitherman....a black man.

This is simply another grandstanding event for Smitherman. All of a sudden the black on black crime has become a headliner for him. No, he's not going to offer up any concrete solutions because 1) he doesn't have any; and 2) he can't marginalize his base.

That said, City Hall has refrained from addressing crime of any and all sorts. That position has been the norm for years and years. The police round up gangsters with the help of those in communities not afraid to snitch and guess who takes the credit? That fancy dandy Mayor and his plump sidekick, Uncle Milty. Never mind the cops and innocent people who put their lives, their families and their properties at risk.

Another thing you'll NEVER hear a peep from City Hall on is the black thugsters beating and robbing white people in the communities. Never. That criminality is on the increase in many neighborhoods, although the media has chosen to quash such stories.

The black on black crimes do come with specific concerns, but those guilty of fostering such behaviors and sheltering those who do commit the offenses do not and will not face up to the ugly truth. Go to the courthouse any day of the week to listen to Mommies, Grannies, Granny's preacher from her church, extol the virtues of a thug who's facing his 4th go around in the state prison system. Until all communities get past the denial and all the varying excuses, there is no solution. The CIRV hamburger and hot dog cookouts are simply window dressing and a venue for the TV cameras to garner soundbites from baby mamas, who are harboring these thugs, with the worn out adage, "Dis be gotten to stop. You know, all dis shootin dey be doin."